National

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi is slated to address her maiden public rally in Gujarat on February 28. The Congress general secretary will also be accompanied by her brother and party President Rahul Gandhi, signalling the intent to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah in their home state.

The mega rally to be held at Trimandir Ground, Adalaj, will follow the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party's highest decision-making body, in Ahmedabad on February 28. The 51st CWC meeting, to be held just before the schedule of general elections is announced, will focus on strategising and preparing for the Lok Sabha polls.The CWC meeting is being hosted in Gujarat after 60 years and the entire top Congress leadership - Rahul Gandhi, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress Parliamentary Party leader Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Priyanka Gandhi among others will brainstorm over the issues and roadmap for the Lok Sabha polls.

Besides Priyanka and Rahul, the rally will also be addressed by Sonia Gandhi, who last made a public speech in November last year in Telangana during the Assembly polls.The Adalaj rally follows Rahul Gandhi's February 14 address in tribal Lal Dungri village in Valsad district. This is the same village where his grandmother Indira Gandhi in 1980, his father Rajiv Gandhi in 1984 and his mother Sonia Gandhi in 2004 started and romped home to power.Gujarat Congress MLA and party spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil said the Adalaj rally will be the biggest in Gujarat in recent times."The preparations are in full swing for the rally which will be the biggest in Gujarat's history. On the one hand, the resentment against Modi and the BJP is palpable in Gujarat and on the other, the enthusiasm among the people and party cadres is on an all-time high.